Brain injury attorney in West Palm Beach​

Understanding mild, moderate, and severe traumatic brain injuries

A traumatic brain injury is damage to the brain caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, or by a hit to the body hard enough to move the brain inside the skull. The CDC counted about 68,663 TBI-related deaths in 2023, about 190 a day. Doctors sort TBIs into three levels using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS score):

Mild traumatic brain injury (Glasgow Coma Scale 13 to 15)

About 75% of TBIs are mild, the range most concussions fall into, and there may be no loss of consciousness at all. The CDC is clear that a brain scan “is not needed to spot a mild TBI or concussion,” and that gap between clean imaging and how someone functions is where these claims get fought.

Moderate traumatic brain injury (Glasgow Coma Scale 9 to 12)

This range indicates a moderate impairment in consciousness following the injury. Moderate injuries might require hospitalization and can cause lasting physical, cognitive, or behavioral effects.

Severe traumatic brain injury (Glasgow Coma Scale 3 to 8)

This range indicates severe impairment of consciousness and may include coma. Severe TBIs can require extensive hospitalization and rehabilitation and may result in permanent disability.

Common causes of traumatic brain injuries

Falls, motor vehicle crashes, and assaults cause most traumatic brain injuries. Falls alone lead to nearly half of all TBI-related hospitalizations, according to CDC data.

How the injury happened decides who can be held responsible and which insurance policies are available to pay, so it’s usually the first thing we look at. These are the situations we see most often in West Palm Beach.

• Car accidents: Your head doesn’t have to hit anything for your brain to be injured, because a hard enough stop moves the brain inside the skull on its own. That’s why a TBI can come out of a crash where the car itself barely looks damaged, and why car accident claims involving head injuries get undervalued early.
• Truck accidents: A tractor-trailer can legally weigh up to 80,000 pounds, roughly 20 times a loaded passenger car, so the forces reaching an occupant’s head are far higher. That weight difference is also why truck accident cases usually involve more than one insurance policy.
• Motorcycle accidents: A helmet reduces the risk of serious head injury but doesn’t eliminate it. Florida allows riders over 21 to ride without protective headgear if they carry at least $10,000 in qualifying medical benefits coverage. Even with a helmet, the force of a motorcycle crash can cause a traumatic brain injury.
• Falls: Wet floors, uneven walkways, unlit stairwells, and unmarked drop-offs put a person’s head on the ground before they can brace for it. Older adults are hospitalized for fall-related brain injuries more than any other age group, and most slip and fall claims turn on what the property owner knew about the hazard and when.
• Unsafe property and inadequate security: Falls, assaults, and other incidents on unsafe property can cause serious head injuries. Depending on the circumstances, a property owner or another party responsible for the premises may be liable for failing to address a dangerous condition or take reasonable security measures.
• Defective products: A helmet that cracks on first impact, a seat belt that releases, an airbag that doesn’t deploy. When the equipment meant to protect someone fails, the manufacturer can be responsible. Those become defective product claims rather than claims against another driver.
• Medical negligence: Oxygen deprivation during surgery or childbirth, a missed brain bleed, and anesthesia errors can all cause permanent brain damage. Medical malpractice claims run on a different filing deadline than other injury cases and require expert review before anything can be filed.

Some cases fit more than one of these. A crash caused by a defective tire is both a car accident and a product case, and a fall at a job site can involve the property owner, an equipment manufacturer, and a contractor at the same time. Figuring out every responsible party is what determines how much insurance is available to cover a lifetime of care.

Common symptoms of a brain injury

Brain injury symptoms don’t always show up the day of the accident, and they don’t always look like a head injury. Changes in mood, sleep, and concentration are as common as headaches.

If you or someone with you hits their head, get medical care right away, especially if any of the following show up:

• Loss of consciousness for any amount of time
• Dizziness
• Confusion or disorientation
• Convulsions or seizures
• Blurred vision or tired eyes
• Fatigue or lethargy
• Ringing in the ears
• Nausea or vomiting
• Change in sleep patterns
• Weakness or numbness in limbs
• A headache that won’t go away or keeps getting worse
• Behavioral or mood changes
• Concentration and memory problems

TBIs change the chemistry of the brain in ways that affect mobility, concentration, memory, and personality. That’s why the people around someone often notice the change before the injured person does.

Learn more: Can a brain injury still occur if a victim doesn’t lose consciousness?

Long-term effects of a traumatic brain injury

Some brain injuries resolve. Others change what a person can do permanently, and the effects tend to fall into four groups:

• Cognitive: Trouble with short-term memory, attention, planning, and organizing. This is an impactful category, even when they look and sound fine.
• Physical: Headaches, dizziness, balance problems, fatigue, and sensitivity to light and noise. A moderate or severe TBI also raises the long-term risk of seizures.
• Emotional and behavioral: Irritability, depression, anxiety, and a shorter fuse than the person had before. Families often describe this as the hardest part to live with.
• Sensory: Changes to vision, hearing, taste, or smell, including ringing in the ears that doesn’t go away.

These effects are also why it can be risky to settle a brain injury claim too early. The long-term effects and future care needs might not be clear until the person has had time to recover and undergo appropriate evaluation.

How brain injuries are diagnosed

Diagnosis happens in stages, because the tests that rule out an emergency aren’t the tests that measure what the injury did to someone’s daily functioning.

In the emergency room

The priority is finding bleeding or swelling that needs immediate treatment, which means a GCS score and usually a CT scan. A CT is fast and good at spotting a bleed, and it’s also where mild injuries sometimes get missed, because the scan can be clean while the person still isn’t right.

Follow-up imaging

An MRI provides more detailed images of brain tissue and may identify abnormalities that weren’t visible on an earlier CT scan. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a specialized MRI technique that measures how water moves through the brain’s white matter and may help identify changes associated with injury. Imaging is only one part of a TBI evaluation, so getting the appropriate brain injury tests can help document the nature and extent of the injury.

Neuropsychological testing

Neuropsychological testing can help document problems that don’t appear on a brain scan. A neuropsychologist evaluates areas such as memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function to identify changes in how a person thinks and functions after an injury. The results are considered alongside medical records, the person’s history, and other evidence to help show how a brain injury affects daily life.

How much is a brain injury case worth in West Palm Beach?

There’s no average, and any figure quoted as one is invented. Value turns on whether the effects are permanent, what you earned, the insurance available, and how fault gets divided. Personal injury damages split into two categories.

Economic damages are what you can put on a bill or a pay stub:

• Emergency treatment, surgery, and hospitalization
• Rehabilitation, follow-up care, psychiatric care, and medication
• Future care, including attendant care and home modifications
• Lost wages and benefits, and lost future earnings if you can’t work again

Non-economic damages cover what never reaches a bill:

• Pain and suffering, and emotional distress
• Permanent disability or disfigurement
• Loss of consortium, a spouse’s own claim for the companionship and support they lost
• For a surviving spouse, lost companionship and mental pain and suffering under Florida’s wrongful death act

Future care and lost earnings usually dwarf the bills already in hand, which is why our West Palm Beach brain injury attorneys price both before naming a settlement figure.

How long do I have to file a brain injury claim?

For most Florida negligence claims, the statute of limitations is two years. A wrongful death action generally has a two-year deadline as well. Other claims, including medical malpractice, can follow different rules and deadlines.

How we build brain injury cases in West Palm Beach

Most of the work happens before any negotiation, because a brain injury claim is worth what the evidence proves. Our West Palm Beach brain injury attorneys start with the medical record, which the firm’s registered nurse paralegals review, then build the baseline from school records, performance reviews, tax returns, and statements from people who knew the person before. Insurers routinely argue a cognitive problem predates the accident, and that baseline is the answer.

From there: a neuropsychologist to test current function, a life care planner to price future care, a vocational expert on what work is still possible, and an economist to carry those numbers across a lifetime. We also identify every policy available, because a brain injury can outrun a driver’s limits.

Determining fault in brain injury cases

Fault comes down to proving that someone owed you a duty of care, fell short of it, and caused your injury. What that takes depends on the case: crash data and scene reconstruction in a vehicle case, maintenance and inspection logs in a fall, employment and training records in a workplace case, and expert testimony on the standard of care in a malpractice case.

Florida also divides fault by percentage. Since March 2023, there is no recovery for anyone found more than 50 percent at fault. Below that line, your award is reduced by your share. On a $1 million case, being found 20 percent at fault means recovering $800,000. Being found 51 percent at fault means recovering nothing.

That threshold is why an insurer’s early questions often aim at what you were doing in the seconds before the injury, and why it’s worth having a traumatic brain injury lawyer in West Palm Beach answer them.

Talk to a brain injury attorney in West Palm Beach​

Recovering from a traumatic brain injury is hard enough before you add an insurance claim to it. With an experienced West Palm Beach personal injury lawyer from Lytal, Reiter, Smith, Ivey & Fronrath handling the claim, you can put your attention back where it belongs.

Lytal, Reiter, Smith, Ivey & Fronrath has represented injured people in Palm Beach County for more than 40 years, and eleven of the firm’s partners are recognized as Super Lawyers. There’s no fee to talk with us, and you pay no attorney’s fees unless compensation is recovered. Call us at (561) 655-1990 or contact us online for a free consultation.

Frequently asked questions about brain injuries in West Palm Beach 

What if my brain injury symptoms appeared days or weeks later?

Delayed symptoms are normal in brain injuries and don’t disqualify your claim. They do make documentation more important, because the gap between the accident and the first report is exactly what an insurer will point to. Get the symptoms into a medical record as soon as you notice them and describe them to the doctor by date.

Can I still file a claim if my injury is considered mild?

Yes. “Mild” describes the injury at the moment it happened, not what it did to your life. If a mild TBI cost you your job, your ability to drive, or your independence, those are the losses the claim is measured against.

How are future medical costs calculated in a brain injury case?

A life care planner, usually a nurse or rehabilitation specialist, projects what care you’ll need across your lifetime (therapy, medication, equipment, home modifications, attendant care) and prices each item. An economist then adjusts those figures for inflation and reduces them to what they’re worth in today’s dollars. That figure becomes part of the economic damages claim.

Do most brain injury cases settle, or go to trial?

Most personal injury cases settle, and brain injury cases are no exception. They settle later than other cases, though, because the value depends on knowing what’s permanent, and that takes time to establish. Preparing a case as though it’s going to trial is also what tends to produce a serious settlement offer.